Tendayi Viki is one of my favourite innovation thinkers, authors, and educators. In this episodes, we hear his wonderful insights on innovation and strategy. One of the comments that stood out for me in this episodes was, “it is that it is better to be lucky than to be smart.” I suspect that Tendayi love of this quote is driven by his observation that the moment you start winning, you start losing.
It is insights like these that make Tendayi one of my favourite innovation thinkers.
Another example is his observation that disruptors are not rebels without a cause. They are people who set out to create value in a specific way, and along the journey, they learned that in order to create the value they wish to create, they need to change the sector or system. Disruption is never really the main goal. It is a consequence of trying to change the world.
Tendayi spends his days supporting disruptors. The fundamental questions that seem to guide him how might we:
- Create the right environment to support innovation?
- What are the right tools for supporting innovation?
- How do we make the right investment?
- What is the right decision making frameworks?
- How can managers ask the right questions at the right time?
I love questions. If people were better at asking questions we would see more innovation. Too often our organizational structures stifle innovation and pull disruptors way from the things they should be focused on if they are to generate innovation.
Throughout this episode, we explore several aspects of disruption and disruptive conversations. One example that stood out for me was the challenge of creating a sense of urgency among managers. Especially among managers who are well paid and sit in the leading positions of successful companies. For Tendayi, innovation is about doing finding new things to succeed at. Convincing managers that the bridge is burning before it starts burning is a difficult task. It is what I call a disruptive conversation and it takes great skill to navigate these conversations. Managers need to help create the conditions for innovation.
Tendayi offers another insightful when he explains that he does not make a distinction between an entrepreneur and intrapreneur. For him, innovation and disruption succeed when you create value and there are people out there in the world who are willing to pay for that value. This value creation can come from an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur. The goal is to create value for others.
I hope you enjoy this episode with Tendayi Viki.
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